Chapter 9: Chapter9-First Kill of a World Boss, an A-Rank HP Regeneration Skill
"He seems like a fair enough person. Since she wants the shield too, I might as well sell it to her."
Without giving it much more thought, John selected the sell option.
[Your B-Rank Equipment, "Gravekeeper’s Shield," has been sold. You have obtained 60 Gold Coins!]
After selling the B-Rank piece of equipment, John rubbed the Flameserpent Ring on his finger and looked over his current status panel.
[John]
[Skills]: Summon Undead
[Equipment]: Flameserpent Ring
[Gold Coins]: 285
[Talent]: Heart of the Fire God (SSS-Rank)
[Soulbound Talent]: None
[Free Attribute Points]: 0
...
"I still have far too few skills and usable pieces of equipment."
John shook his head, clearly dissatisfied with his current status panel.
To anyone else, his attributes would already place him firmly among the top players.
But to John, this was nowhere near enough.
"Since devouring Boss-class monsters can grant me skills and other rewards, and since I can’t complete the World Exploration quest yet due to the world-level restriction, I might as well clear out the various World Bosses around the map first."
With that thought in mind, John’s figure flickered, and he disappeared from where he stood.
...
When he reappeared, he was standing on elevated ground.
Below the ridge was a vast circular area roughly a hundred meters in diameter. It looked as though it had been forcibly carved out by some devastating ability.
At the very center of the clearing, an enormous bull paced back and forth. Its bulging muscles were a deep crimson color, like red-hot iron.
The bull’s scarlet eyes constantly swept across its surroundings, and from time to time, it let out a low, threatening growl.
The entire circular clearing had been scorched black. Deep furrows covered the ground in every direction. Not a single blade of grass grew there, nor could any bird, insect, or beast be seen.
There were no other living creatures anywhere in the area. Most likely, this bull had slaughtered everything that had once inhabited it.
Its aggressive nature was obvious.
More importantly, the clearing was completely surrounded by elevated terrain. Unless one stood right at the edge of the ridge, it was impossible to notice that such a circular zone was hidden down below.
No wonder the strategy teams had failed to discover this Boss even after the game had already been open for an entire month.
The location and terrain of this area were simply far too concealed. Under normal circumstances, it would be nearly impossible to trigger any quest guidance related to it.
The only way anyone could have discovered it was through a painstaking, inch-by-inch search of the entire region.
World Bosses like this one were different from Dungeon Bosses. Once killed, they would disappear permanently.
Naturally, the rewards they provided were also one-time rewards.
John cast an Appraisal spell, and the creature’s information appeared before him.
[Crimson Warbull]
[Skills]: Bloodthirsty Charge, Regenerative Body, Brute Force Ram...
"I hope you can give me something good."
Without the slightest hesitation, John leaped down from the ridge.
[You have entered the territory of the World Boss, Crimson Warbull!]
The instant the bull saw John, it released a violent, enraged roar.
Immediately afterward, it scraped its hind hooves against the ground, preparing to charge at any moment.
Even the earth began to tremble beneath its power.
However, before the Crimson Warbull could launch its attack, John raised his hand.
The ring on his finger flashed with crimson light.
In the next instant, a scorching ray filled with an terrifying aura blasted outward.
The searing beam pierced straight through the Crimson Warbull’s skull.
[-10201!]
The terrifyingly intense heat instantly annihilated the Crimson Warbull.
Its HP bar fell empty in an instant.
Its massive body collapsed to the ground with a thunderous crash, like a small mountain toppling over.
[You have killed the World-Class Boss, Crimson Warbull (Level 15). You have obtained EXP +1500 and Gold Coins +50!]
John raised his hand and pointed it at the bull’s corpse.
"Devour!"
The bull’s body instantly dissolved into white light before merging into John’s body.
[You have devoured the Level 15 Crimson Warbull. You have obtained the A-Rank Skill: Ironblood Regeneration!]
[You have obtained 15 Luck Points!]
[You have obtained 1000 Free Attribute Points!]
"Another A-Rank skill in my hands."
John turned his attention to the A-Rank skill he had just acquired.
[Ironblood Regeneration]
[Effect]: Passive skill. After taking damage, recover 1% of your maximum HP every second.
...
The corners of John’s lips curled slightly upward.
"Not bad. With my current HP combined with this skill, I doubt anyone can kill me now."
He currently possessed over 100,000 HP.
One percent of that meant he could recover more than 1,000 HP every single second!
Meanwhile, none of the monsters in the current Starter Village could even deal 800 damage in a single attack. The damage they inflicted would not even be able to keep up with his HP regeneration!
By devouring this Boss, John had also obtained another 15 Luck Points, bringing his current total to 35.
Aside from that, he had received 1,000 Free Attribute Points.
After considering it for a moment, John decided to invest all of those points into Intelligence.
[Consumed 11005 Free Attribute Points. Intelligence has increased to 101005!]
Intelligence affected Magic Damage. With this increase, John’s Magic Damage rose yet again.
At that moment, a world announcement resounded throughout the game.
[Congratulations to player "Outlander" for achieving the first kill of the Level 15 World Boss, Crimson Warbull, in Starter Village No. 616. Rewarded: 1000 Reputation Points and the title "Conqueror"!]
...
After hearing the world announcement, the player channels fell silent for several seconds.
Then they instantly erupted.
"What the hell? There was still an unkilled World Boss in a Starter Village?"
"What have the strategy teams from the major guilds been doing? How did they miss something like this?"
"It’s Outlander again! Where the hell did he find this World Boss?"
"I get it now! Aside from obviously using cheats, this Outlander must have connections with someone on the inside!"
"He must have some kind of under-the-table deal with an insider! Otherwise, there’s no way he could have found a Boss hidden in some random corner of the map!"
At this moment, the players’ suspicions regarding Outlander deepened even further.
The major guilds were even more stunned.
Their members had already searched the Starter Village regions back and forth several times. Only after confirming that no World Bosses had been overlooked had they begun withdrawing on a large scale and moving toward the main cities.
Yet now that this announcement had appeared, none of them could remain calm.
If Outlander, someone who had entered the game a full month late, could still discover the location of a World Boss, did that not mean there might be more undiscovered World Bosses remaining in the Starter Village areas?
For a time, the major guilds all dispatched portions of their members back to the Starter Village regions, ordering them to conduct another thorough search and check for any World Bosses they might have missed.
...
John knew nothing about the commotion in the outside world.
Even if he had known, he would not have cared.
Without the map intelligence provided by the NPCs, it was impossible for the other guilds’ players to compete with him for the majority of the remaining World Boss first kills.
After finishing with the Crimson Warbull, John’s figure flickered once again, vanishing from the spot.
...
Several dozen kilometers east of the Starter Village was a mining region.
John’s figure appeared there.
According to the map intelligence he had obtained, there was another World Boss hidden somewhere within this mining area.
However, when he arrived, he immediately noticed that a battle had already broken out inside the mine.
"There are actually people here?"
John concealed himself behind a massive boulder and began observing the situation.
A blond young man dressed in mage robes was loudly directing five subordinates as they surrounded and attacked a Stone Colossus.
"You, the archer over there! Stop spacing out! If your skill is off cooldown, then hurry up and deal damage!"
"Where’s the mage? Get your crowd-control skill on it already!"
"Fuck, playing games with you people is such a pain. If I weren’t the vice guild leader now, I wouldn’t even bother dealing with you!"
The blond young man’s voice was unbelievably grating. Under his commands, the group moved around in a flustered mess.
Judging from their condition, they had probably already been fighting for quite some time.
And yet, the Stone Colossus had only lost around ten percent of its HP.
John’s gaze locked firmly onto the blond young man.
He recognized him.
This was none other than Nix, the man who had stolen his position as vice guild leader!
